The scientific literature contains numerous descriptions of observed and potential effects of global climate change on species and ecosystems. In response to anticipated effects of climate change, conservation organizations and government agencies are developing “adaptation strategies” to facilitate the adjustment of human society and ecological systems to altered climate regimes. These strategies can be grouped into four broad categories: land and water protection and management; direct species management; monitoring and planning; and law and policy.
Tools for implementing these strategies are similar or identical to those already in use by conservationists worldwide (land and water conservation, ecological restoration, agri environment schemes, species translocation, captive propagation, monitoring, natural resource planning, and legislation/regulation). Although our review indicates natural resource managers already have many tools that can be used to address climate-change effects, managers will likely need to apply these tools in novel and innovative ways to meet the unprecedented challenges posed by climate change.
Climate change impacts are already being felt all over the globe. Major impacts on wildlife include:
- Altitudinal/poleward range shifts
- Changing food/water availability
- Increase in pests and disease
- Changes in the timing of life cycle events
- Coral bleaching – Extinction
In Canada’s Hudson Bay, polar bears leave longer distances to swim in ice-covered areas.
In the warm tropical waters of the Caribbean, hawksbill turtles have been returning to the same beaches to lay their eggs in the sand for thousands of years. But warmer temperatures in the sand threaten to upset the balance in the nests, where temperature determines the mix of males and females developing in the eggs.
